The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898 created worldwide excitement and drew "stampeders" from far and near. Among those involved with the gold rush were a number of people from Illinois. This presentation will look at a few of these, including Portus B. Weare, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade; Martha Louise Black, a Chicago woman who left her husband and took the trek to the gold fields while pregnant; and Frank Reid, an adventurer and purported killer of Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith.
The speaker will be David Simpson, a writer who has recently spent six months in Alaska. The presentation will take place in the historic, 1889 Grossdale Station, home of the Brookfield Historical Society.
